Nomicosecittà Milano
Dalla città che c'è alla città che vorrei /
From the existing city to the one I would like

Serena Sinigaglia is waiting for us in front of new Bocconi University building, on the corner between viale Bligny e via Röntgen. She doesn't like this building, she grew up on the other side of the street and she still remembers the bus garage that used to be here and left space for the horizon. She doesn't care about the technological innovations by Grafton Architects and about the international awards they won for it. Serena is not the kind of person who changes her mind easily.

She thinks this building is out of place and therefore she takes us into the courtyard of viale Bligny 42, yes, the building most of the people in Milan know as den of criminals. But that is also the building Francesca Cogni and Donatello De Mattia wanted to discover through the movie “42 | Storie da un edificio mondo”: we have the chance to watch it at the Libreria Shake, there, in that courtyard. We get out of viale Bligny 42 after a chat with some of the dwellers and we reach the Dramatic Art School Paolo Grassi (via Salasco). Nadia Fulco is waiting for us, her strong friendship with Serena started long back, in that school and led to the creation of the theatre research group ATIR, headed by Nadia and directed by Serena. She tells us about the time when she left Naples to follow a dream that she was able to fulfill through that school. We continue walking, we cross roads and tram rails and we end up between a park and a group of villas that could be easily found in the English countryside, but are unexpected in Milan. Serena is scared by them, it could be the perfect setting for a horror story. And here it comes. Somebody in a dark dress is waiting for us, surrounded by a ghostly music: we are standing in front of The house of the Usher, described by Poe in one of his novels! It is Marcela Serli, actress of the ATIR company based at Teatro Ringhiera, the one who is telling us that story, taking the walkers in a different dimension.

We continue after the circonvallazione (Milan's ring road) until we reach via Meda, between Spaventa, one of the many social housing neighborhoods along that road, and the former Fonit Cetra, the first recording studio in Milan now owned by the popular Italian singer Eros Ramazzotti (Radiorama - Medastudios). We start to be tired, but fortunately the lunch break is not far: we sit in a semicircle in a square in front of the school in via Montegani to eat a slice of pizza of Pizzeria Ai Tre Gradini. We are reached there by Tiziana Olive (Banca del Tempo 4 Corti), Viviana De Filippis (DAR-CASA, Banca del Tempo 4 Corti, CdZ 5) and the ladies of the Ritrovo 15 association, who give us an idea of the richness of that poor area in terms of social and cultural initiatives (the associations of the area are around 60).

After lunch we start to walk again, we pass by the beautiful Chiesa Rossa library, until we reach P.le Abbiategrasso, where we meet the architect Giovanni La Varra who reads some pages from his book “Case Minime”. We are heading towards the goal: Teatro Ringhiera, home to the ATIR group. It is a special day: it is June, 2^nd, it is Republic Day in Italy, indeed, but at Teatro Ringhiera it is Fabio's Republic Day, a day dedicated to Fabio Chiesa, actor and soul of the ATIR group, killed two years ago while he was cycling in Milan. Fabio, the one who saw something good even in the cracks in the asphalt in front of the theatre. And he turned them into flowers. For his Day everybody is there, even us, to keep on painting flowers, dancing and believing that the city we would like to live in is possible.
 

Serena Sinigaglia, (1973) theatre director, graduated in direction from the dramatic art school Paolo Grassi in 1996. She has worked as director assistant with Gabriele Vacis and Gigi Dall'Aglio.
She founded and is the art director of A.T.I.R. (Independent Theatre Association for the Research). A.T.I.R. has managed Teatro Ringhiera since 2007, a theatre located in a peripheral area of Milan within Parco Agricolo Sud Milano.
Alongside with the theatre direction of classics (Romeo e Giulietta, Baccanti etc.) and new plays (Qui città di M. etc.), Serena Sinigaglia is involved in the regeneration of Chiesa Rossa neighborhood through various activities of Teatro Ringhiera targeted to the inhabitants.